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Roadhouse Blues – 8 Roadhouse Riffs for Harmonica

Roadhouse Blues – Lesson on Harmonica – Quick Facts

Released on ‘Morrison Hotel‘ in 1970
Harmonica played by John Sebastian
The Doors got their name from The Doors of Perception, the book by Aldous Huxley which details his experiences with mescaline.


Harmonica Tabs

Roadhouse Blues music is property and copyright of its owners and provided for educational purposes and personal use only.
The following is my transcription of the harmonica parts of this awesome song.

This goes out for Roland who needed to pick up some Roadhouse Blues harmonica tips.

Riffs

Riff 1 – is the comping riff found throughout the song. It starts off playing a 2 draw on the offbeats
-2 -2 -2 34 -3

Riff 2 – near the beginning of the song after the first riff has been played three times. This will repeat 4 times with a tag added to the 4th time.

First 3 times: 3 4 -4 with a bend and falloff.
Fourth time: 3 4 -4 -2 -3 -3 -2

Riff 3 – after the first line of vocals
-2 -3 4 -4 4 -3 3 -3 -2 -2

Riff 4 – During ‘The future’s uncertain | the end is always near’
-4 -5 -4 -5 -4 -5 -4 | -4 6 -5 -4 4 -2

Riff 5 – guitar solo call and response similar to line ‘Save our city’
-4 4 -3 -2

Riff 6 near end of Morrison’s vocal improv. Starts on and of 1:
-2 -3 4 -4b -4b -4b -4b | -4-5 trill -4 4 -3 -2
The trill starts on 1 and last for 2 beats

Riff 7 follows the sixth riff:
-2 -3 4 -4 4 -3 -2 | -3 -2 -2

Riff 8 – Let it Roll Baby Roll
-4-5 trill | -4b 3 -3 -3 -2




Video Transcription

Roadhouse blues is played in the key of E so for this we are going to need an A harmonica. That means that we will be playing in second position or ‘cross harp’ position. The reason for this is, on an A harmonica, when you draw on holes 2, 3, 4, and 5, you get an E7 chord. Also by setting up the chord to sound on a draw means that you can bend the notes to create tones that are part of the blues scale which sound great.

There are a ton of nuances added in the playing – there’s bends, scoops, drop offs, slurs, trills that are really hard to notate in tab form but I’ll give you the holes to blow and draw so you can form a basis on the notes to play so you can add your own inflections.


This Post Has 7 Comments

  1. Troy

    Hey George, which harmonica do I use for the song “Run through the jungle”? The song is in key of E, but I’m guessing A for the harmonica. But I bought an E. Also, I’m having trouble getting the harmonica to bend. I’m using a Hohner Special 20, but the damn thing won’t bend. I’m assuming it’s about air flow but can’t seem to get it. Thanks!

  2. Michael Pergola

    Perhaps I’m not hearing it well but is the riff #4 missing a note. I count an extra note before the “6 blow”.
    thanks in advance,
    Michael

  3. Thirsty Hurston

    Just wondering is the tab music the same if the band is in G and I’m in C ?

    1. George

      Yes, tabs should be the same.
      If the band is in G then you will want a C harmonica to play in second position and the tabs will work in the new key.
      Thanks for asking.

  4. Roland Brown

    Hiya George,
    Thank you for making this video for the ‘Roadhouse Blues’. As you know, I had to play this two days after you posted it. With your riffs and tabs, we had three runs through on the Friday night at practice and then played on Saturday night. What a fantastic gig we had. For us it was a big crowd (100) and we had them up dancing for 3 hours. One of the highlights of the night was Roadhouse Blues which we nailed thanks to you. We ended up playing it again as one of the encore songs and made it into a 10 minute jam session. Take a bow George as you made a lot of people happy and had a huge impact over in sunny Brisbane (Australia).
    Cheers from Roland & ‘The Banned”

    1. Steve Menlo

      You are right about Roadhouse Blues. We’d been playing the song for a while without the harp, being just a 3-piece band, but I thought, let the bass player carry it for awhile and do the harmonica. Made all the difference in the world. Everybody is happy after a good Roadhouse Blues!

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